Recycled Radio: Academy CT-998 CB Handsets

Recycled Radio Series


Series Introduction
Recently I thought I might try my hand at repairing and resusing old walkie talkies bought from eBay.  These items are usually listed under for spares or not working and can be bought quite cheaply provided you dont mind taking a gamble. Over the past couple of weeks I have received a few different radios each with their own faults and flaws, blindly bidding in the hope of putting them right and using them. so far so good it has to be said .

The first set of 'spares or repairs' radios to arrive we these rather splendid Academy CT-998:S........


Academy CT-998 CB Walkie Talkies (Vintage)

Price: £6.00
Listed as: For spares or not working
Band: FM
Frequency: 49Mhz
Power: 200mW
Description: Vintage CB equipment - Untested
True Condition: Almost new condition
Details: 49Mhz FM Single channel two way radios. Unknown age circa 1980? (Prior to CB being legalised in UK)  32.5 inch telescopic antennas. Powered by a single 9V battery. Earpiece, lanyard and radio cases included.
Crap?:  No way

First Impressions

Wow! The condition of these radios is amazing considering how old they must be. I really wasn't expecting that!
Still in the original box with all the original accessories this set has clearly been stored in someone's attic for the past twenty five years. The very nice ebay seller was flogging these as part of a house clearance on the Island of Orkney.  Along with loads of household bric-a-brak were quite a few vintage CB rigs all of which we in similar condition. It would appear that the original owner of these rigs had sadly gone silent key and this seller was clearing the place - even the house was being auctioned on ebay.

Inside the outer box are two smaller plain boxes containing the radios and their accessories. (see above pic)
A lanyard, ear piece and leather look case make up each handset. Both the lanyard and earpiece look as of they have never been used before. - the same with the cases. These have seen no action I wager.

The handsets feel like new with no rattling buttons or loose telescopic antennas.
These are basic Walkie-Talkies after all with no fancy LCD displays or keypads to be worn out.

Despite a ceaseless search on the internet I can find no definitive year of manufacture so it has been quite difficult to determine their age.
One small clue can be found on the side of the outer box. A sticker suggests obtaining a license before using these in the UK.  CB radio became legal in 1981 or thereabouts which means that this set must be older than that.  Pretty old then.

One thing I noticed with these radios was the outrageous length of the antennas! They measure approximately 31.5 inches long which absolutely dwarfs the long Nagoya 771 used on my Baofengs. (and I thought they were too long!).  When fully extended these telescopic monsters look ridiculous. You wouldn't want to swing this thing around in a crowd for fear of poking someone's eye out. It's easy to forget how over sized CB gear is when compared to modern compact stuff. I love these radios but i would be embarrassed to use them in public.

No it's not a deaf aid from the 1960's, this thing is the supplied Ear piece which comes with each radio. To be honest they look crap by today's standards but they out perform the Baofeng ear pieces which is shameful.

The photo above shows the original price stickers from whenever it was. £33.20 doesn't sound that bad even back then.


Testing
Before I could do anything I had to rustle up some 9V Batteries from somewhere? It's not really a popular size in our house, more AA and AAA really. Luckily I managed to find a couple in some old Multimeters that I had hanging about.
I inserted a battery into each set and fired them up.
Firstly I was greeted with the sweet sound of static! Not surprising considering these handies are open squelch so it's static white noise 24/7 unfortunately.
With fully extended antennas on each handset a distance or around half a mile was possible....albeit slightly muffled. You cant expect much from 200mW I guess.
An intelligible conversation can be achieved if you stand in the right place.
For short range communication these handies are much more effective.

Overall I'm very happy with my second hand CB's,  They were bought untested and there was the possibility that they wouldn't work but the small £6 price tag wouldn't have been too big a loss to bare if they did turn out to be crap. They work perfectly and like brand new.
I'm not going to use these at all. Instead they are going straight into storage - I have seen how much these normally fetch on ebay!

Gerber GDC Hook Knife Review

Aphoristic Does Bush Craft


Gerber GDC Hook Knife 

Price: 50p
Manufacturer: Gerber (supposedly)
Model: GDC Hook Knife
Shipped From: China
Vendor: Seller libinbin2018 via ebay

First Impressions

I'm still trying to perfect my emergency/SHTF go box. Looking around for any little gizmo or gadget to add to or replace stuff in the box. I saw these popping their heads up every few days and wondered if I should pull the trigger.

Doing a little research revealed that Gerber seem to have discontinued this item, I'm not sure when though. Original pricing was around the £10 mark from online outdoor stores.

I managed to win two separate lots costing 50p and 60p respectively. The first lot arrived the other day in a plain yellow envelope.

Inside the envelope was a little white cardboard box containing the knife and nothing else.

On first inspection we find a rather nicely made knife within a safety sheath.  The blade appears to be made from a piece of coated steel although I'm not 100% sure of that. It's tough and well machined.

The sheath is made from a single piece of tough ABS plastic and features a click lock for holding the knife in place.

There isn't much more to it than that. It's simple in design.

Product code on the back

A genuine Gerber?

Nope!

I think this plain white box was the biggest giveaway as to this items true origin. Gerber never shipped the hook knife in a plain box with a Chinese sticker on it! The original knife was packaged in a small square black box. Another slight omission by the counterfeiters was the lack of a silver split ring through the top hole in the sheath. The original knife does have a ring.

Another little fakery faux pas for those paying attention is the difference in the Gerber logo font. Check out the photo below to compare.  The low price of 50p is another clue to this products shady past. Online stores were selling these for anything up to £10.00 each .....not 50p

Unless the genuine Gerber knife is made from Titanium or Platinum then I reckon this fake will be equally as good and made from similat stuff. That's my guess.

An Authentic Gerber GDC Hook Knife

Testing:
Despite having a dubious pedigree this knife works surprisingly well.
Cutting through a piece of paracord was quick and simple. The knife blade is incredibly sharp meaning you don't have to apply too much pressure when cutting.

I can't see any reason why this knife would be crap in an emergency situation. It's strong, tough and plenty capable.




Rating: ✅✅✅✅✅  5 out of 5 
Despite appearing to be a knockoff, this hook knife is super value for money. The blade is sharp enough to slice through a seat belt and chop through paracord, what more do you want? A useful addition to any keyring.

DT-1130 EMF Meter Review

DT-1130 EMF Meter

Price: £5.50 free shipping
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: DT-1130
Type: E.M.F. Meter (Electro-magnetic field) Single Axis meter
Measurements: Milligauss?
Run By: 1x 9V battery
Description:
Features: LCD display, Data hold button.
What's in the packet?: Meter and instructions (limited info)

Inside the meter - Everything run By the Chip

First Impressions

This cheap and cheerful EMF Meter is a remarkable bit of kit! Not only is it the cheapest EMF Meter on the planet (probably) but it can also measure other things?!  but more on that later..

After using an EMF countless times over the years I felt it was only fair that I bought my own and not always borrow someone elses. These meters can be quite expensive especially if you opt for a tri-axis model. As I don't need to use one all that often I thought I would try and get a cheap one. It turns out that this particular model is the cheapest on ebay costing around £5-£6 shipped. This is a fraction of the cost of a better known make and so I decided to buy it without question. 

Delivery was in the region of about three weeks from Kowloon which is a little longer than usual but OK.

The packet contained the meter in a bubble wrap bag and a flimsy instruction sheet. It turns out that this instruction sheet is far from informative. The reverse side was in Chinese and the English side was not much better. The biggest issue was the lack of explanation regarding which unit of measurement the meter would be using.  I can only assume that the display is giving Milligauss readings? Who knows? This small omission to the manual is not a good start. 

The build quality of this meter is understandably crap. It's built to a price and it's the innards which get the most attention here and rightly so. Without the battery the unit weighs badically nothing. 

Testing 

Baofeng radio on transmit

 The Kettle

WTF! Electro-Static Readings???

Usually it's quite common to find that Chinese manufacturers will overstate their products power or functionality and generally bullshit a bit. 

In a strange twist on convention we find that this manufacturer has this time understated their handy work.

It would appear that this seemingly conventional EMF Meter can actually measure static too! It's a little strange.

This fact came to light when I was going round the house pointing the meter at various mains sockets and at some poiny I accidentally metered the Cat!  Suffice to say he measured 867 Milligauss!? What! My Cat was not hooked up to the mains  so how can this be?

In a crude experiment I rubbed his fur much like you would to generate static with balloon. The figure rose and the buzzer went off!? 

Thinking I was dreaming or something I set up a separate test with a bubble wrap bag. 

I measured the bag straight off the shelf then vigorously rubbed it along my sleeve and measured again. Ha! 

Polythene Bag

Polythene Bag with some friction

Bit of a coincidence? So it measures static too... which unit of measurement is the device using now? How does it switch modes?
I'm sure this is not an Electrostatic Voltmeter. What on earth is going on?

The perceived inability to differentiate between EMF and static readings might compromise any testing? I'm not sure.

Doubt has crept in....



Rating: ✅✅✅ 3 out of 5
If you don't mind spurious readings and not knowing which unit of measurement is being used go ahead and pay the man.

Bizarre Ebay Bargains Part #1

Bizarre Ebay Bargains Part #1

This section of my blog is dedicated to all the unusual bargains that I sometimes bag on Ebay.  I dont go out of my way to look for these things, more that they come looking for me especially when I have small change burning a hole in my pocket. I suppose this is a continuation of the challenge I set myself a few months ago where I aimed to bag the cheapest things possible off the bay. As I recall the lowest priced items to date are the rather strange LED Earpicks which cost as little as 1p for 3 including postage. Here are my latest collection of low priced items not normally seen on my ebay summary page. In no particular order we start with...

2x Litmus Paper Books

Price: 10p - 25p per twin pack

Description: Universal Indicator Papers 80 strips X 2 

Will I use Them? : Maybe

These are a blast from the past! Litmus Paper from the chemistry class at school. Special strips of paper which changed colour depending on a liquids PH value (particless of Hydrogen) so anything acidic would turn the paper a shade of red and anything alkaline would turn the paper blue etc etc. Fascinating stuff as I remember. I have never seen any Litmus Paper for sale in the shops over the years so this little find was a rare novelty. Quite why I would need Litmus Paper round the house is another question! Buy now think later! 

Strange Vietnamese Medicated Patches

Price: 20p for 2 packs (16 Patches)
Description: Rheumatic Athoritic Relief Patches
Will I Use Them?: Probably not considering I don't have Arthoritis or anything and I don't know what the active ingredients are anyway.

What the hell was I thinking when I bid on these things!? I know, the price....that was it.

These patches are a mystery to be perfectly honest. Each sachet contains 8 medicated patches (like big sticking plasters) with no instructions or ingredients list in English. The picture on the front of each sachet suggests albino tiger as the active ingredient and as the orientals have a thing for killing tigers for medicines I'm a little apprehensive! The best way of working out what's going on in there is with your nose. The smell given off by these plasters is very similar to Tiger Balm (another oriental remedy) a slightly spicy menthol aroma would best describe it.
Tiger Balm is a known quantity whereas this isn't.
I'm thinking of donating these to the local care home first aid box.  😂😂

3D Butterfly Decorations

Price: 10p-20p per pack (12)
Description: 3D Decorative wall art
Will I Use Them?: Not me personally, I know people who will though

The reasons why a grown man would buy packets of plastic butterflies can easily be explained.
I actually bought these for other people for sticking on their walls at home. For the price it's hard not to like them. The butterflies come in different sizes and are made from a reasonably strong plastic film.  Each pack comes with a strip of sticky pads for sticking to the wall.  I have seen these packs going for £2.50 each so these are a massive saving. They are OK.

V For Vendetta/Guy Fawkes/Anonymous Masks

Price: 99p for 2
Description: Yellow V For Vendetta Masks
Will I Use Them?: Yes, It's Halloween and Guy Fawkes night soon.

With Bon Fire night and Halloween just around the corner I wanted something different to wear over both nights.
This twin pack was only 99p which seemed an absolute bargain at the time. I have since seen a single mask selling for almost £5 in the last couple of days which is outrageous.
The build quality and art work on these masks is actually very good indeed. They fit really nicely on the face and don't irritate like a lot of cheap shit costume masks.
I was really impressed with the Chinese seller who had packaged these up well when he sent them.
Two of these for a quid is a bargain!!

I definitely didn't buy these to take on an Anonymous movement rally. !

Skull Snood/Balaclava

Price: 50p
Description: Full Face Skull Balaclava Snood
Will I Use It?: Yes, an alternative Halloween mask? or for using in the winter time.

Winter is upon us and so is Halloween, what better than a warm skull printed Balaclava?!
I saw these a while back and thought that the £1.50-£2.00 going rate was a little steep.  Bagging this specimen for 50p seemed a good idea.
Although made from a polyester type fabric it's actually quite warm to wear. The skull print is quite effective when the Balaclava is fitted properly.
Another Halloween mask alternative should the need arise. Impressed.

Plastic Spudger/Pry Tools

Price: 1p-6p free Shipping
Description: Plastic pry tool for opening mobile phones and tablets
Will I Use Them?: Yes, already use them

I must say these are brilliant! I have already benefitted from them in way of opening up a phone and a Baofeng radio. Despite looking weak and puny these tools are as tough as old boots. I really can't complain at the price. A great addition to any tool box.

Anti-Snooring Device

Price: 20p
Description: Anti-Snooring Sleep Apnea Device
Will I Use This: haha No chance!

Why I bought this strange device is anyone's guess.  I think I was curious as to how it works? For the cheap price of 20p it was worth a look.
To this day it is still unclear as to what this device actually is? On the box it shows images of people running away from a presumed disaster coving their faces to avoid smoke/dust inhalation. It looks like a still image from the 9/11 attack?
The image adorning the front of the box shows a woman asleep in bed with one of these shoved up her nose. So what function does this device serve? Is it a smog/pollution filter or an Anti-Snooring Device?
Inside this nasal aid is nothing more than a thin piece of sponge... So it serves neither purpose I would suggest!

V For Vendetta Pendant + Chain

Price: 60p
Description:
Will I Use This?: Probably not
I saw this Vendetta Pendant lurking around the auction items of the seller I bought the masks from. Does he/she have a thing for vendetta? Who knows.
This pendant + chain ensemble cost considerably less than a pound which is quite remarkable when you consider the actual
size of this thing when it arrives.  The Guy fawkes face is a couple of inches long and feels weighty and solid. I wasn't expecting much if I'm being honest so being presented with this was a nice bonus.
Not sure I will use this chain. It's as big as a 1970's medallion often worn on top of an unbuttoned shirt. Very 'saturday night fever'


I must stop buying cheap tat!

Military Sighting Compass Review

Aphoristic Does Bush Craft 


Fake Meridian Prismatic Sighting Compass

Price: £3.00 winning bid usually go for £5-£7
Manufacturer: unknown
Model: unknown (K&R Meridian copy)
Description: Military Prismatic sighting Compass
Features: lensatic sighting, side ruler,  glow in the dark dial, spirit level, neck lanyard, marching line. Hard outer case.
Vendor: Seller bestbuy266
Shipped From: UK
What's in the packet?: Compass, neck lanyard,  comprehensive instruction booklet and green nylon carry pouch

For something so cheap it is well presented

First Impressions
I have been looking at these metal framed compasses for a while now and thought I might pull the trigger once a reasonably priced one came along. Lucky for me a UK based firm had this counterfeit Meridian up on auction with a low starting price. The normal ebay price of this model varies from £6 to £10 with free shipping so bagging this one for £3 in the end seemed an achievement.
After a couple of days the compass arrived nicely packaged.
Inside the main postal cardboard box was a rather crap looking retail box. It looked awful. Not the best first impression.
Thankfully a rather nice green pouch slipped out which felt like it had a bit of weight to it.  Inside the nylon pouch was the metal compass and a handy instruction manual.


The Real Meridian

Precision made in Germany by Kasper & Richter the original Meridian was a rugged Prism sighting compass with an appealing appearance and a strong reputation for its quality and reliability. These days it seems that this original model may have been discontinued? The K&R website makes no mention but instead promotes the improved Meridian Pro. This update features a side fitted inclination thing? 

Here is a link to the website Meridian Pro

In terms of looks then my fake copy isn't that far off the real thing. Taking a second look and a few little differences can be noticed but its not a big deal.  Lol I wager the bezel on the real Meridian isn't made from plastic!

In terms of the materials used for this cheap compass I'm in no doubt that it's cheap monkey metal being used here. It's not awful. It's just a little rough and the seni-pro paint job doesn't help the situation either. It doesn't feel very chip resistant?
So it's not like a real Meridian in that respect. Well I knew this from the start and for the £3 I paid it would be daft to expect anything else. Overall considering the build quality and the materials used I would say that this compass should be durable enough for most situations. I'm referring to the outside case here and not the cheap plastic bits on the inside.  Notably cheap plastic can be seen on the silver Bezel. A solid aluminium Bezel would have been nice to be honest but thats the deal.

Testing
Although I haven't taken this thing on any kind of orienteering excersize yet I have had the chance to play around a bit with it.
The most important test for this compass is the ability to find true north on the dial. Sitting it side by side with my other known working compasses it can certainly find true north. The amount of time it takes to get there is another matter. It can take a few seconds....no matter though as long as it gets there!

Using the lens sight to pin down a coordinate is easy to do. Just look through the little hole but make sure it's level when you do it. This feature could be useful.

The little spirit level works OK. An absolute essential part of taking an accurate reading of course. Nothing bad to report there.

Not bad for a fake

Overall then a good working compass. The build quality seems worth a lot more than £3. It's likely to be hard wearing apart from the flimsy plastic bezel. Worth a punt anyway.

It even has the side ruler like the Meridian!

Rating: ✅✅✅✅4 out of 5
A fully working Meridian rip-off for £3 is a bargain and no mistake. This thing will guide you to wherever you are going...... reliably. No one will know the difference 😁

Which Baofeng Radio Is The Best?

Some thoughts on the Baofeng UV-5R and UV-82 style radios

Baofeng has become a by-word for quality budget radios over the last three or four years with millions of piece being sold across the world. When compared to the market leaders like Kenwood they offer a very cheap and easy way into amateur radio.

As I currently own two of each variety and use them on a daily basis I now have a fair idea of what's good and what's crap about the 5R and 82.
Perhaps the title of this post was a little misleading as it may suggest that I'm comparing every single Baofeng model on the market. Not true. I don't own any of the 888 style radios or any without an LCD screen for that matter.
Instead a comparison between the two most popular models to which all the others are based on anyway?!

All these Baofengs are the same?
Baofeng don't break with tradition very often it would seem. The likes of the GT-3 and GT-5 are basically UV-5R's and UV-82's underneath with a little restyling here and there to set them apart.  The menu system and functionality stay the same across the range (mostly) making one hand set virtually identical to use from any other.
This uniform and some would say lazy approach means it's easy to pick up a new model and use it straight away. - unless you haven't used a Baofeng before! lol

So without further ado here are my thoughts on both of these great value radios.


The Ubiquitous Baofeng UV-5R ( plus all variants)

UV-5RTP - This version of the 5R has 8W of power! It looks exactly like the original 5R with only a slight change to the wording on the nameplate. Definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Compared to the standard 4W power output of Baofeng radios this high power 8W beast can carry that signal much further. In terms of power output and transmitting in general I don't have a problem with the 5RTP. I do have a problem with the deafness of this radio when recieving. It just doesn't pull in signals like the enhanced UV-5RE and later models. Side by side the recieve performance of this radio is shite.

UV-5RE - I really like this radio for a couple of reasons. Firstly this was the enhanced version of the 5R which not only had a new silver front plate on the radio but also shipped with the improved A-V85 stock antenna (which came from the UV-82).
The second reason was the newer 5R firmware inside. Now sporting the 297 build the signal meter now worked and scanning channels seemed quicker?

And the Baofeng UV-82 

This radio was originally billed as being a complete redesign of the 5R from the ground up and I suppose it is. This Radio features a larger commercial size form factor with a 1W speaker providing a more fuller and richer sound than the smaller 0.7W speaker found on the 5R.  The advantage of a dual PTT button will win the vote with some people. Transmit and recieve performance is better than the 5R. This could be due to the upgraded chipset inside. 

Despite looking different the functionality is the same on both radios with only a few small differences to tell them apart. The Band and VFO/MR button are present on the 5R but not on the 82. The lack of a band button is not a big deal as the radio will switch between them automatically thus making a button redundant. Loosing the VFO or frequency mode button is more of a problem on the 82. To program a frequency into the handset (without the software) involves a convoluted series of procedures on the 82 which can be a little annoying but not a deal breaker by any means.

Overall I like both radios but the UV-82 is a more grown up looking handy with decent performance. Generally this model tends to be a few pounds more expensive but the savvy ebay surfers could get one for as little as £20 (like I did!) Which is cheaper than a 5R in most cases.

I would recommend both radios but the 82 has become my firm favourite.

The eBay Magnesium Fire Striker Scam

Aphoristic Does Bush Craft

Ebay Magnesium Fire Striker Scam

Which kit offers the best value for money?

Whilst checking over my survival gear the other day I noticed something rather amusing.
During one of my ebay shopping sprees I had purchased two different type of Magnesium Fire Striker/Fire Steel kits.
The first one acquired was a short 2-3 inch rod + striker, the second being a much longer 5-6 inch rod + striker. The longer of the two was much thicker in diameter and overall seemed more substantial.
Both rods cost roughly about the same which meant that the larger of the two seemed a much better proposition and great value for money.

The short rod + striker arrived first and worked well under testing. I was quite easy to make a fire.
It seems good quality and likely to last for a long time.

The extra long rod + striker arrived eventually and all was good until it came the time to test it.
Despite my best efforts I could not get any sparks what-so-ever. It was a little bit strange? Was this just a steel rod in disguise?

Can you see it? 

Turning the rod over revealed something rather bizarre.
Instead of the whole bar being made from a single piece of Magnesium like the shorter one, we get a full steel bar with a much thinner bead of Magnesium cut into a channel down one side?! The cheeky beggars!

Magnesium Rod is set in a channel

To be fair, the rod and striker do work provided your run the striker directly in one particular place.  The only problem with this is wear and tear over time. With only one side of the rod being used for striking, it won't be long before it's worn away. 

Bad design. Must try harder lads!

When the actual surface area of Magnesium is measured on both size rods it's the smaller one which has the most material and is the more versatile.
Simply wrapping a thin Magnesium rod in a steel bar is a blatant fraud imo.
There is no need to build a rod + striker kit like this - other than to fox the general public into thinking they are getting more.
It's amusing to say the least.

There's a lesson to be learned here I'm sure.

New European PMR446 Channel Allocations

News.

According to my fellow CTDX group member Del Boy,  a new PMR channel expansion has been proposed across Europe affecting both the analogue and digital band slots.
This effectively expands the analogue 446 platform from 8 to 16 channels and the digital platform to 16 or 32 channels.

The changes to the digital platform take effect from 2018 (presumably the UK will be included in that) with the new analogue allocation expected at the same time.
Some have already retuned their radios ahead of time but wether anyone will start using these channels unofficially before the 2018 date is debatable.

Is this the big shift that will kill off regular CB 27Mhz for good?
I don't think so, it seems that CB radio is still popular in certain areas and it would require a monumental shift in 446 adoption by the public to kill off CB popularity. -

As it's virtually impossible to buy a blister pack of 16 channel analogue Walkie-Talkies at the moment it's likely that the only early adopters of these extra channels (before 2018) will be the owners of ham radios.

The advantages of the extra channel require no explanation. The good old straight eight can become very congested at times and quite often you can be competing with big stores and motorcycle instructors for air space... Having the extra channels allows a little room to breath at least.

I think this proposal is a great idea and might just breath a bit of life into the PMR scene.
As a regular user of PMR 446 I wish that these changes could happen sooner but nevermind.


For all the latest PMR and CB news visit Del boys blog!
Del Boys 446 site
Del Boys Main Site

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